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RATINGS SCORECARD GATEWORLD - * * * 1/2 FAN POLL - 8.99   BUY IT NOW: U.S. RELEASE DATE - March 11, 2008 (DVD) BUDGET - $7 million WRITTEN BY - Robert C. Cooper DIRECTED BY - Robert C. Cooper STARRING - Ben Browder (Cameron Mitchell), Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter), Christopher Judge (Teal'c), Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), Beau Bridges (Hank Landry), Claudia Black (Vala Mal Doran), Currie Graham (James Marrick), Morena Baccarin (Adria), Tim Guinee (Tomin), Julian Sands (Doci), Sarah Strange (Morgan Le Fay), Michael Beach (Abraham Ellis), Gary Jones (Walter Harriman), Martin Christopher (Major Marks), Christopher Gauthier (Hertis), Erik Breker (Reynolds), Matthew Walker (Merlin), Alisen Down (Alteran Woman), Gabrielle Rose (Alteran Woman #2), Fabrice Grover (Amelius), Spencer Maybee (Captain Binder), Simon Bradbury (Alteran Man), Jason Calder (Ori Warrior), Greg Anderson (Prior #1), Doug Abrahams (Prior #2), Morris Chapdelaine (Prior #3), Nicholas Podbrey (Prior #4), Ian Wallace (Prior #5), J. Douglas Stewart (Prior #6) SG-1 travels to the Ori home galaxy in search of an Ancient device that could stop the Ori war once and for all. But the return of an old enemy threatens to overrun the ship before they can accomplish their mission.

The war with the forces of the Ori continues. But Earth (and all of our galaxy) has just gotten a major break: Tomin, Vala's husband and a commander of the invading armies, has defected. SG-1 brings Tomin to Earth, and he tells them that the worshippers of the Ori are about to bring another wave of warships through the intergalactic Supergate. There has been little we could do to stand up to only the first four ships ("Flesh and Blood") -- with dozens of ships fighting their holy war, the Ori victory will be swift. And a coordinated attack on Earth is most certainly imminent. Tomin is welcomed as a guest, a war-torn soul who is still coming to terms with the fact that he has done terrible things in the service of false gods. But the I.O.A., the agency over the Stargate program, wants to interrogate him as an enemy prisoner. With Richard Woolsey occupied with the Atlantis expedition, they send James Marrick to the S.G.C. Marrick pretends to be friendly and disarming, an ally just doing his job, but makes it clear to Tomin that he holds him in great disdain, heartlessly confronting him about his war atrocities. Meanwhile, SG-1 is planning a bold mission to travel to the Ori home galaxy itself. They are in search of the "Ark of Truth," which they hope can put an end to the war. Tomin goes with them, believing that he can help SG-1 make contact with the anti-Ori underground.

NOTES Read GateWorld's review of Stargate: The Ark of Truth! Watch preview videos at GateWorld Play.

PRODUCTION Filming on The Ark of Truth began April 15, 2007. The production budget was about $7 million, according to Multichannel News. A typical (44-minute) episode of Stargate SG-1 runs about $2 million. Actress Alisen Down, the Alteran woman who interacts with Ark inventor Amelius, played Stargate Command's Dr. Brightman in SG-1's eighth season. Morris Chapdelaine can be briefly seen at film's end as one of the Priors. This Prior previously appeared in Season Nine's "Arthur's Mantle." Chapdelaine also played the alien Tenat, and is one of Stargate's Asgard puppeteers. Nicholas Podbrey, another Prior, has also been an Asgard puppeteer and a special effects makeup coordinator on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. "It's the climax of the Ori story line. ... They're not big-budget [films] by any definition, but for us it's pretty good. As we've proven over the years, just give us little more money and we can make pretty good television, or DVDs." (Executive producer Brad Wright, in an interview with TV Guide) The storyline "has to do with wrapping up the Ori storyline, which is the storyline that has taken prominence for the last two years of the show. I don't know if [Cooper] is going to wrap it up completely or bring it to some conclusion for the sake of the fans and the franchise, to bring that epic struggle to a close." (Actor Michael Shanks, in an interview with IGN.com) "We feel that we have an obligation to finish telling the story that we started telling. Right now, we know for sure that the main cast of Season Ten will be returning: Ben Browder, Michael Shanks, Chris Judge, Claudia Black, and Amanda Tapping. Beyond that, we are still working on it. I know that Brad's put a call into Richard Dean Anderson ('Jack O'Neill'). ... We're hopeful he'll make an appearance, whether he's in both [movies] or just one. We're not sure yet. "And we have some surprises we're hoping to pull out of our hats for returning villains and allies that we don't have confirmation on yet." The budget will be bigger than a television episode, "but it's nowhere near what a feature has. We're going to have to use our magical powers to make these look like they're big movies. They're still TV movie budgets." (Writer-director Robert C. Cooper, in an interview at StargateSG1.com) "That's going to be the story that [Robert Cooper] wanted to end the season with. It's going to be a big, splashy feature film. ... It is a great story. It's a big story. It involves travelling to the Ori galaxy." (Executive producer Brad Wright, in an interview at StargateSG1.com) "There are some nice little details that Tim Guinee and I were able to explore in the Vala-Tomin arc. I liked how that wrapped up. Or at least how it did on the day. Not sure what made the cut! In general the loose ends which we tie up seemed to be in keeping with the style / tone of the series: things wrap up as they need to in order to restore order." "I think the writing was probably on the wall where Adria and Vala were concerned. No room for a grey area. So there are two ways things could go for them at story's end: happy families or 'see ya later' ..." (Actress Claudia Black, in an interview with Slice of SciFi)